The Messenger
by lanalucy
Summary: Something's dying in the front yard. This is part of an ongoing series over on AO3. The series is complete and utter fluff, set in a future where Kara made it to Earth and didn't poof. There are allusions to hanky-panky, but no hanky-panky is shown onscreen. Not so far, anyway.


What in the gods' name was that racket? It sounded as if something was dying in the front yard. Lee put down the book he'd been trying to read and went to the front door, throwing it open. Baby was standing there, paw raised as if she were getting ready to knock on the door. _Knock the frakkin' door down, more like. She's getting big._ She yowled at him, though it wasn't nearly as intimidating as her mother's.

Lee shook his head and started to close the door - the cats were Kara's friends, not his - but Baby stuck her paw in the doorway and yowled again, softer, looking over her shoulder then back at him. _Kara thinks these things are intelligent. Maybe Baby's trying to tell me something._ "You want me to come with you?" She sort of meeped at him, and he decided to take that as a yes. He left the door open while he went to get his pack - he and Kara kept them ready, because they just never knew when they'd need to walk out the door on a moment's notice. Like now.

Baby was pacing, tail twitching, when Lee came back to the door, and she immediately turned and started trotting off toward the hills. Lee slammed the door behind him and jogged after her.

He'd been following Baby for nearly an hour, at a pretty substantial lope all the way, and he was beginning to get winded. Kara would laugh her ass off when he told her, especially when he told her that he been chasing Baby at the time.

Baby slowed down, and Lee heard what sounded like Artemis growling. _Frak! I hope she's not pissed, because I'm pretty sure she only tolerates me because Kara smells like me._ That had been a fun introduction. He shook the thought off.

He and Baby rounded a curve in the path, and Artemis was lying on the ground, apparently on high alert - her tail was flipping back and forth almost faster than Lee could see it - and she was growling down at the hole in front of her. Periodically, she whuffed, as if she were talking to someone.

He stopped where he was, waiting. Artemis turned her head in his direction, her muzzle pulled back, ears tuned behind her. Lee took a step forward, and when she didn't protest, he moved again. One step at a time, until he was looking down at the hole from beside the cat. _Kara! Guess Baby _was _trying to tell me something. Is that one of Artemis' kits?_ Kara had told him that she thought the cats lived in groups, and that as far as she could tell, Artemis was the Head Bitch In Charge of her particular group. So the kit might be one of hers, or it might just belong to the group.

He thought he might be able to get down in there from the other side, but there'd be little room to maneuver. He couldn't tell from here if Kara was breathing, but it looked like she wasn't injured, so hopefully she'd just lost consciousness.

"Okay. I'm going to try to get in from the other side. I don't have any rope, so if I can lift the kitten and Kara to you, you'll have to help me get them the rest of the way out." He looked at her, and he swore her expression said, "_Duh_."

"All right, then. Here goes."

He walked around to the other side of the pit, examining for places he could put his hands and feet on the way down. Movement in his peripheral vision. The kitten was awake, licking Kara's face, and she groaned. Thank gods. Now just to get her out of there. He slowly and carefully climbed down into the pit. He wasn't sure what had made the earth collapse here, but it seemed stable enough at the moment.

He ran his hands over the kitten, and as much of Kara underneath it as he could reach. He looked up at Artemis. "Okay, I'm going to try to lift it up to you." She was looking down at him, impatiently if he was any judge.

The kitten was heavier than he'd expected - apparently, these things were far more muscular than he would have thought. It was a strain to get it over his head, but he managed to hold it up long enough for Artemis to get its scruff in her teeth. _Frak. How's she gonna get hold of Kara? Never mind, Lee. Focus._ Artemis disappeared from his overhead view, but Baby stayed, staring down at him.

He knelt to check over Kara. She didn't have any injuries - no bumps on her head or any breaks that he could find. Maybe the kitten had landed just right on her and knocked her out. "Kara. Come on, Kara, wake up."

She groaned. "Leemee alone."

"Kara. Time to wake up."

"Don' have to. Lemme sleep."

"Starbuck!"

She started awake. "What? Frak, Lee, what's your problem?" She looked around her, up at him, up farther at Baby, her mouth rounding in an _Oh_. "Guess I fell in."

"Either that or you decided to play hide and seek without telling me."

"Funny, Adama."

"Come on, Kara. Let's get you out of here." He was about to wonder out loud if Artemis was coming back when she rawred softly from above. "Okay! Just about ready down here. You ready up there?"

She whuffed and Kara giggled. "You're talking to a cat, Lee. You know that, right?"

"Frak off, Kara. You talk to her all the time." He grinned crookedly at her.

"Yeah, but I'm crazy."

"Good point. I have to lift you high enough that she can get hold of you, or you can get purchase on something and pull yourself out." Just as he said that, Artemis turned and dropped her tail over the edge of the pit. "Okay, then. Your cat really likes you, Kara."

"I think it's more like I'm her human, and more like she tolerates me because Baby likes me." She looked up, then over at him. "How'd you find me, anyway?"

"Baby came and knocked on the front door."

Kara called out, "Thank you, Baby!" and Baby's response was a brief, soft roar.

"You ready, Kara? Can you get on my shoulders?"

She gave him an inscrutable look and laughed. "I knew some day I'd have you kneeling at my feet."

He stood and kissed her fiercely. "Every day if you'd let me."

"Don't get mushy on me, Adama." But she was smiling as she said it, the special smile that he'd never seen her give anyone else.

The rest of it went fairly easily, though for a moment, Lee wasn't sure exactly how he was getting out of the pit. Once topside, he gave Artemis a careful pet on her head, and rubbed Baby vigorously behind the ears. She returned his thanks with a nudge on his hip that knocked him down. He and Kara and Baby ended up in a pile broken up only when Artemis growled. She must have been irritated, because Baby immediately got to her feet and trotted after her mother.

"Guess it's time for dinner," Kara said. "C'mere, Lee Adama. I think I owe you something for saving my life."

He let her kiss him, then wrinkled his nose. "Kara, you smell like cat. You need a bath."

"Gods, Lee. Always trying to get me naked."


End file.
